This One Thing I Cannot Change
by Her Is In Hero
Summary: "She hung up on the Director when he started talking about 'we have protocols for this, Agent Morse'. Fuck protocol. Fuck the mission. Fuck being wherever Skye wasn't." *5th in the 'Like A Stain' series*


**_This One Thing I Cannot Change_**

It's meant to be a routine mission; her and the Caterpillar's going to find a Gifted who had killed people. They had to determine if it was intentional or accidental, if he was a threat or just couldn't control his powers. If he was a threat they had to contain it, if he couldn't control it they could help him.

Threat containment was Skye's least favourite part of the job.

The man was a threat.

Skye's powers worked on the power of vibration, everything had a vibration, a frequency that she could manipulate. Feel the vibration of the air around someone, control those vibrations and stop the person from moving - that was one of her favourites to use in bed. Feel the vibration of sound, manipulate the vibration to make different sounds and frequencies.

This mans power was more destructive. More precisely he used his powers more destructively - because she knew her powers were very destructive. Her powers were vibrational, his were molecular. Molecular acceleration. He waved his hands at something; that something went boom.

Boom.

It felt like slow motion when Skye felt the blow hit her. The breath flew out of her, she was lifted off her feet - she thought something might have broken, possibly a rib - she could hear a scream, but she wasn't sure who it was. Pain exploded around her entire body and almost immediately her vision became blurry before the darkness consumed her.

* * *

Bobbi was on a four-day stake out, watching a mercenary who was selling Chitauri tech to the highest bidder. It was a slow, boring mission. They already had enough to take the seller in and hand him over to General Talbot - another point in S.H.I.E.L.D's favour before they came out of the shadows (they were almost completely opperational again after three years) - but she was waiting around to find out who his latest buyer was. Anyone that was spending obsene - and it really was obsene - amounts of money on alien technology probably wasn't someone they wanted running around unwatched.

Stake outs were boring. Sitting in an empty building and watching some guy through a telescope is not her idea of fun.

Her phone buzzed and she nearly jumped out of her skin, drawing her gun on instinct and aiming at the device on the table. Well, she couldn't say that her reaction time was lacking. She put her gun on the table as she picked up her, phone glancing at the caller I.D before frowning. Lincoln? Lincoln never called her. Sure, they were friendly, but they didn't really interact outside of work - even though he was one of Skye's best friends.

Skye!

She couldn't answer fast enough once she realised; Skye had been on a mission with her Caterpillar's - Lincoln was her second in command with the Gifted group - and now Lincoln was calling her. He wouldn't call her unless it was an emergency.

"Is she okay?" Bobbi demanded, silence on the other end. "Lincoln, I swear to God if you don't tell me she's okay right now..." She let the threat linger.

"Skye was hit." Lincoln said slowly, his voice wavering. "It's pretty bad."

Bobbi hung up.

It was three minutes before she got another call - Coulson this time - ordering her to stay on mission. Skye was in hospital, they'd get her out as soon as possible, Lincoln was in medical school and they had Simmons. Skye would have all the best care S.H.I.E.L.D could provide.

She hung up on the Director when he started talking about 'we have protocols for this, Agent Morse'. Fuck protocol. Fuck the mission. Fuck being wherever Skye wasn't.

Bobbi was in her car seven minutes after Lincoln had called, already dialling Hunter.

"Simmons said she's at Sacred Heart somewhere in Texas." Is how Lance answered the phone. "Bloody May made me leave before I could get her to tell me anything else." Texas. She vaguely remembered Skye saying something about Texas before she left, but she couldn't focus on the sound of blood rushing in her ears.

"I've got a quinn-jet, I'm not staying on mission when the only thing Lincoln told me was that it was bad. Why would Coulson think I wouldn't go to her after a call like that?" It was insulting really.

Insulting and infuriating.

"Pick me up on your way through, yeah? I can't exactly fly one of those things and get myself there." Hunter requested and it made Bobbi smile because he needed to be with Skye as much as she did.

* * *

"Morse." May was waiting when she landed the quinn-jet at Providence. "Your orders-"

"My orders were bullshit." Bobbi snapped, May's dark eyes hardened. "Out of my way."

"We all care about-" May started again, not moving from blocking the doorway to let her out. She had to get Hunter and go. Every minute she argued with May was a minute she wasn't with Skye.

"If you cared even a little you'd know why we're going." She spied Hunter over the older womans shoulder, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

"Know your place, Morse." May hissed, her posture tensing.

"My **place** is with Skye." The blonde pulled her Icer from the holster at her hip. Only a fraction quicker than May. She clicked the safety off.

"Just let us go and no-one has to get hurt." Bobbi breathed slowly, spoke evenly, held her weapon with a steady hand.

"If you don't put it down, Morse, abandoning a mission and disobeying orders will be the least of your problems." May was just as sure, just as steady, just as-

The womans eyes widened before rolling into the back of her head then slipping shut as she fell forward and Bobbi had scramble to catch her. Hunter was standing behind her, lowering his own Icer.

"Arguing isn't getting us to Skye, Love." The Englishman shrugged, tucking his Icer into the waistband of his jeans. "Besides, better I shoot her, she already hates me." The two carried a now unconscious May to a nearby SUV and laid her in the backseat.

* * *

Bobbi set course for Texas as Hunter called Lincoln, demanding loudly - and with a lot of swearing and threats - to know exactly which hospital in which town Skye was. After that all they had to do was wait.

Wait and worry and ignore all the radio commands from S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

Once they got to Dillon, Texas - small town, big on football - and found the hospital it was easy to find Skye's team; her Caterpillar's were the most random group of people in the waiting room. Different styles, races and demeanors, and all wearing S.H.I.E.L.D-standard black tactical suits.

Bobbi went straight for Lincoln, pushing the man against the wall roughly and glaring at him. He was supposed to be Skye's second, he was supposed to have her back!

"Easy, Bob!" Hunter was quick to pull her back before she could actually choke the life out of him; everyone in the waiting room was staring, the Caterpillar's had jumped from their seats and looked like they wanted to interfere. "Come on, Bob, deep breaths." Lance coaxed, keeping an arm around her waist and stepping back, putting space between his enraged girlfriend and the electrokinetic. "He can't tell us about Skye if he's dead."

"He also can't fuck up and get her hurt again if he's dead." Lincoln actually trembled a little under her glare - rightfully so, Lance had been on the receiving end and it was bloody terrifying.

"I suggest you start talking now, Mate, before I actually let her kill you." Hunter prompted when a long, silent, tense minute later Lincoln hadn't said anything.

"I-I don't know anything." The young blonde admitted, "I'm not family, they won't tell me anything, which usually means critical condition, but-"

"Hey!" Bobbi broke away from Hunter and going to the reception desk. "Skye! You better have information on Skye-..." The woman paused, threats usually worked a lot better when she could be specific. Specific like knowing what name Skye had been admitted under; Skye (which last name?) Daisy Johnson, Mary Poots, another alias they'd come up with on the spot?

"Skye Blue." Lincoln provided, Bobbi and Hunter both did a double take. He'd had Skye admitted with the name Blue? Where the Hell did that come from? He shrugged helplessly at the.

"Are you family?" The receptionist asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." They answered in unison. "Sort of." Hunter added weakly.

"I'm sorry, only direct family or bonds allowed." The woman denied with a shake of her head.

"That's great." Lance nodded, his chest tightening. Because he wasn't her Soulmate, he wasn't bonded to her, he was just in love with her and that didn't get him anything. Bobbi on the other hand only needed to provide a writing sample. "Bobbi's her Soulmate."

"Lance." Bobbi whispered, she knew it was a sore subject for him sometimes. Being looked down upon for not bonding with someone, treated differently because he was in a relationship with a bonded pair. Those people knew nothing about their relationship though, they didn't know that Skye and Bobbi love him just as much as each other, that they didn't care if neither of them had his words because he was theirs anyway.

"Inside of her left wrist, five words, grey-blue just like Bobbi's eyes, she can write it down for you." The Englishman continued determinedly. At least if Bobbi went in they would get something. One of them would be able to see her. To know how she was.

A form was slid in her direction, a big blank box for a Soulmate writing sample. It was stupid, she could get in because of words on her skin, but Lance had to wait.

"Go." Lance murmured, brown eyes looking to her blue ones. "One of us should get to and this is the only way." He urged, handing her a pen.

' _I think you're a rockstar!_ ' scribbled in black ink in the box quickly before filling out the rest of the form and pushing it back to the nurse.

"I'll have this confirmed." The nurse pursed her lips and eyed them for a long minute before taking the form and leaving.

* * *

Lance was in the waiting room with Skye's Caterpillar's whilst Bobbi was allowed in to see Skye. He tried sitting, pacing, talking to anyone in a doctors coat or scrubs that walked past, resisted the urge to beat the shit out of the Caterpillar's for letting Skye get hurt - they hadn't even caught the prick that did it, they just let him get away so Skye's pain was pointless.

If he got injured Bobbi would be able to see him - her words on the back of his shoulder - for the same reasons she was allowed in now, but then Skye would be left in the waiting room. Worried and terrified like he was now. If something happened to Bobbi - God forbid - Skye would be able to go and see her because of her words wound around Bobbi's wrist, but he'd once again be left out.

Soulmarks made everything horribly complicated. Immediate family or Soulmates. Not immediate family, Soulmates and Lovers.

Lance was torn from his thoughts by a whirlwind of blonde hair and angry swearing. He managed to catch her and stop her from punching something - or someone, preferably Lincoln (he could admit he was bitter, Skye was hurt) - by pulling her into his arms. She fights at first, but it's not even a minute before he's got an armful of a distraught, crying Bobbi. That's when he knows it's bad.

Bobbi never cries.

She does, of course, she's human. But, he can count on one hand the number of times he's seen her cry in the eight years he's known her. Three of those times were because of him.

It takes ten minutes for her to be calm enough to talk. Skye's burned pretty badly, most of her torso covered in bandages - the doctors say the scars will probably neer heal (they love her no matter what). A broken rib that punctured a lung, concussion - at the very least, they're waiting for her to wake up to know more - broken bones littering her body.

Their girl is broken.

Both his girls are broken.

He holds the one he's allowed to and suppresses his own anguish. One of them has to be strong and right now it seems like it's up to him.

* * *

The hospital staff are confused when S.H.I.E.L.D turns up the next day when they're transferring Skye to a new room. People in suits with guns and flashy badges say they're taking one of their critical patients. Everyone is mostly silent as Skye is loaded into the elevator and taken to the roof where they have a plane waiting - bigger than a quinn, smaller than the Bus - but everyone can the tension. Worry, dear, deja vu, anger between the two groups - the ones who had sat in the waiting room all night and the ones that had arrived in the morning apparently didn't get along very well, but they worked well together.

* * *

Medical science has come a long way; Dr. Cho and Simmons had worked together, better the skin regeneration chamber, coming up with ways to heal bones quicker. Bobbi spent more time in the field than the lab, but she could still understand the science behind everything the two were doing.

Understanding the science didn't make it happen any faster.

Skye had a lot of skin that had to be treated - removed, as was the case for most of it - and then regenerated.

Bobbi couldn't stand to be in the sterile operating room while that happened. Watching them slowly peel of layers of her Soulmate's burned flesh off her body made her want to vomit.

They had to do it in phases, only doing pieces at a time to let the new skin settle and let her body accept the process. Dr. Cho hadn't done a task this big since she actually _built_ a body from scratch.

* * *

When Skye woke up Lance was the one at her bedside, Bobbi had just been all-but dragged out of the room by May to go to a **meeting** with Coulson about her disregard for authority and orders... Lance thought it was kind of novel that Bobbi - S.H.I.E.L.D to the core - was being reprimanded for breaking the rules. That was usually him, and Skye on occasion - more-so him because Coulson would let Skye get away with almost anything.

Waking up was a long process, it started with groans and moans, turned into twitchy movements of her head. Dr. Cho came to check on her and said that it was all perfectly normal after being in a drug-induced coma for three days, she wasn't just going to wake up like she did every other morning.

When Skye's eyes finally blinked open Lance hadn't felt so relived since Bobbi had come out of surgery after Ward had tortured her. The relief that the woman - one of them - was alive; her heart was still beating, her blood was still in her veins, he would get revenge on the bloody arsehole that had hurt her.

Granted, he was still trying to get revenge on the last arshole that hurt someone he loved, but he could multitask. Kill Ward and rip his intestines out, then use previously mentioned intestines to strangle the man that did this to Skye. Solid plan!

* * *

By the time Bobbi left Coulson's office - two hours of yelling, reprimanding, and 'consider yourself on probation, Agent Morse' after she went in - Skye was back asleep again. She hadn't stayed conscious for long, and according to Lance she'd been incomprehensible, but she had been awake and Bobbi had missed it.

Skye wasn't covered in bandages anymore, her skin no longer red, raw and peeling, no more charred flesh and oozing burns. Her skin looked as perfect as ever... Well, what she could see of it; the gauntlets Simmons had made when Skye first got her powers - and had internalised them to hurt herself and stop the quakes - had been modified to enhance the healing factor.

They still couldn't figure out a way to make it bigger though, to cover more of the body and heal her Skye quicker.

Her Skye. Hers and Lance's. Their Skye.

* * *

It had taken another three weeks - after Dr. Cho had helped regenerate her skin - before Skye was allowed to sleep in her own bed. It was mostly just to make sure that everything had healed properly, apparently she had been really hurt - hurt enough that May said it reminded her of when she'd been shot and the doctors had told them to contact her family to say goodbye.

She honestly felt fine now - a little pissed that the hostile Gifted had gotten away, but fine none the less. Now the struggle was convincing everyone else of that. So far Coulson had her on desk duty, May refused to train with her until Simmons gave her the all-clear.

Lance and Bobbi were the worst.

They were actually the best.

When she was finally allowed to sleep in their bed again they laid on either side of her, not touching her, inches between them. They were walking on eggshells and she loved them - really, truly loved them - but she was FINE!

Regular bones only took three to six weeks to heal without cell regeneration and Simmons' magic healing gloves - Simmons would kill her if she heard that. She would still have to do PT to get her muscles and ligaments back in working order after being burned and cut up like confetti, but she wasn't completely invalid.

* * *

"Okay, we've got snacks, drinks, books, music..." Bobbi was a mother hen, Skye found out. If she'd thought Simmons was an overbearing mother hen type, Bobbi was just as bad - possibly worse. "Your computer. For strict, non-hacking, non-work related activities-"

"Bobbi." Skye let out a sigh. The older woman pursed her lips, sitting next to her on the bed.

"Indulge me, Rockstar." God, did she even know the power behind those blue eyes? "You nearly died a month ago. Please?"

"Fuck." Skye swore, having to look away from those blue eyes. "Fine. I'll stay in bed like a good little Inhuman."

"Good girl." The blonde pressed a chaste kiss to her lips before getting up. "I love you, Rockstar."

"Love you too." The brunette grumbled reluctantly.

"Lance is doing inventory, but he should be back in a couple of hours." The blonde said as she grabbed her badge and gun from the bedside. She had her _probation_ for leaving a mission and disobeying direct orders, Hunter had left base without permission and shot May with an Icer - again - so he was being punished with inventory. They had a lot more inventory to do now so May had actually smirked when he whined that it would take him **weeks** to do it all. "No trying to seduce him, convince him of anything, or-"

"Do anything other than sit here and look pretty." Brown eyes rolled as Bobbi darted out of the room.

"Be good!" She called from halfway down the hall.

* * *

"You're doing great, Sweetheart." Lance encouraged, hands hovering on Skye's skin as she lifted the weight. Not a heavy one, just to help her muscles reform from the burn, his just-barely-there touch sending goosebumps over her arm.

If Skye thought Simmons was a mother hen, and that Bobbi was an over-eager nurse - she'd gone online and bought a sexy nurses outfit for the blonde that hopefully she'd get to enjoy - then Lance was in a whole new category; diligently massaging all her affected muscles every two hours, scolding her if she did something that he deemed too much of a strain, he even tried to feed her like a baby at one point - she'd ended that with a vibration to the hot bowl of soup. She felt bad for covering hislap in hot soup, and she loved him - smothering caretaker that he was - but he was taking it a little too far.

"Okay, that's enough for today." The weight was tugged out of her hand and Skye didn't know whether to be grateful or not. PT was never fun. On the other hand she'd barely broken a sweat and he was saying she was done for the day?

"Lance, I'm fine." She tried to insist, how was she supposed to get better if she couldn't get past ten reps with the weights? "I can keep going."

"Just because you can, Sweetheart, doesn't mean you should." He could do English disapproval almost as good as Simmons.

* * *

Lance was a coddler. He knew that. He'd known it since he was little lad and his Mum had fallen sick, he'd skipped three days of school just look after her. Sure, he got in trouble for it, but he couldn't just let his Mum be sick and not do anything about it.

This was worse, he'd known his Mum was going to get better in a few days, Skye had almost died.

Bobbi had almost died when she took a shot to the shoulder that was meant for his head. Skye had almost died. He couldn't handle it if the women he loved kept landing themselves in the hospital with life threatening injuries.

So maybe he was going a bit overboard with his coddling, but at least he knew that Skye was getting the right treatments and following the doctors orders to the very letter. If that was all he could do to help her then by God, he'd make sure he did it absolutely perfectly. Besides, he could count the fact that everyone he'd coddled back to health hadn't died as a victory. Score 1 for coddling.

* * *

Lance's favourite part of any day was the part when none of them had a mission, or paperwork, or training - or the dreaded inventory - and he could just sit with his two girlfriends and do nothing. His favourite thing in the world to do; absolutely nothing.

Absolutely nothing involves laying in bed half naked, watching sitcoms, playing with the ends of Bobbi's hair in the way that makes her purr, and gratuitous amounts of junk food.

Lance doesn't get many days like this.

The last day like this was two years ago when Bobbi was injured and their relationship was fairly new. He didn't like the fact that the second time he got a day like this - a whole day and not just an hour or two at random, they had plenty of those - was when Skye was injured.

He hoped the next day wasn't another two years away when one of them was injured again.

"Quiet down, Cowboy." Bobbi whispered when he laughed at the show, he glanced over in confusion, her eyes darted down to her other side; Skye was fast asleep with her head om Bobbi's chest and a hand fisted in her shirt. She honestly could not have looked more adorable if she tried. "Think she has any idea how adorable she is?" They were clearly on the same page.

"Absolutely." He nodded, Bobbi smiled and brushed some hair out of the brunette's face. "How d'you think she managed to wrap Coulson and May around her little finger? Flashed those big brown eyes at them, that's how." The blonde carefully extricated herself from the younger woman, laying her down properly and moving to her other side so she was between them.

"We chose good with her."

"Best decision we ever made." He agreed, moving onto his side and propping his head up on his hand. "What can I say, Love, I know how to pick the best women." Brown eyes slid from sleeping brunette up to smiling blonde.

"We didn't choose such a bad guy either." Bobbi leaned over Skye to kiss him with a grin on her lips.

* * *

It took two and a half months (TWO AND A HALF MONTHS) before Skye was cleared from medical to resume training.

Hunter and Bobbi seemed to take the training okay to mean sex was okay too. Which; YAY! She hadn't had sex in two and a half months, they'd been too concerned about hurting her or inhibiting her healing or whatever. She didn't really care what their reason was when she hadn't had an orgasm for two and a half months.

Her scarred muscles were healing slowly - far too slowly for her liking - and Bobbi had stopped her mother henning - she wasn't so fortunate with Lance always hovering around, ready to reprimand her at a moments notice.

Bobbi was also kneeling above her completely naked with a fine sheen of sweat making her body glow in the soft light of their room. The blonde was taking her time to kiss every centimetre of her regenerated skin, marvelling in the sounds and shivers she made for the different spots her lips touched.

Lance was down between her legs, tongue and fingers buried deep inside her until she came with a cry that Bobbi quickly swallowed.

They were being gentle with her, she knew that, but at least they weren't afraid to touch her anymore. Finally convinced that she wouldn't fall apart at the seams if they did more than kiss her.

It may have been the two and a half month wait, or it could have been the _thing_ Lance did with his tongue, or the way Bobbi kissed her so slowly and languidly, but it was possibly the best orgasm of Skye's life.

And she'd had some pretty fucking fantastic orgasms in her life.

* * *

"Don't die out there, yeah, Sweetheart?" Her first mission back in the field and Hunter had decided to start the mantra he had with Bobbi.

"Wouldn't dream of it." She flashes him a grin as she boards the plane that's got May in the pilots seat.

She had a hostile Gifted to track down and contain, and the great loves of her life waiting for her to get back to base; of course she was going to come back. She'd be a fool not to.

* * *

 **So, this is up a full day later than I expected (yay for moving! (I hate moving)).**

 **Keep the prompts coming; thus far I have a tentative next piece in the works. By tentative I mean I have a title and no plot so far.**

 **Also I have a prompt for Fitz joining the little relationship going on here... Unfortunately that can't happen, but just for that person I am working on giving Fitz his own story with Bobbi (which was the main part of the request) and possibly someone else, depending on how I'm feeling when I get further into it.**


End file.
